I have been a scientist in the field of the earth and environmental sciences for 33 years, specializing in geologic disposal of nuclear waste, energy-related research, planetary surface processes, subsurface transport and environmental clean-up of heavy metals. I am a Trustee of the Herbert M. Parker Foundation and consult on strategic planning for the DOE, EPA/State environmental agencies, and industry including companies that own nuclear, hydro, wind farms, large solar arrays, coal and gas plants. I also consult for EPA/State environmental agencies and industry on clean-up of heavy metals from soil and water. For over 20 years I have been a member of Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the NRDC, the Environmental Defense Fund and many others, as well as professional societies including the America Nuclear Society, the American Chemical Society and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

As China’s massive energy and economic development spawns the largest middle class in history, it’s also creating the largest upper and middle class population on the planet. And they are causing another type of environmental disaster – extinction of endangered species through poaching.

An epidemic of poaching is sweeping the world (Nature Conservancy) fueled by the rising rich of China and Asia. Endangered species are being killed at an increasing rate for the sole crime of being the core of bizarre cultural traditions. Caught in this frenzy of nasty rituals are animals like the rhinoceros, which as a species may not be long for this world (Save The Rhino).

Despite entreaties from the United Nations and many western governments, there is a dense silence from the governments on the receiving end of these body parts. We see this over and over in developing countries on every issue from worker rights to environmental destruction. “The West had its way on this, so why can’t we?”

True. Europe had the original spoiled-rotten rich folks who for centuries could buy whatever, and whomever, they wanted. Then came the United States and its nouveau riche and robber barons who wanted even more trophies of their wealth. Then the Japanese in the second half of the last century did their obnoxious newly-rich stuff. All of these people, and even the not-so-rich, want symbols or rewards for what they see as their achievement in rising to a level previously reserved only for the aristocracy.

And now the Chinese and other rising economies are producing an even bigger population with disposable incomes sufficient to feed their tastes for the traditions that are forbidden or just expensive, things like mixed bat blood and monkey’s milk, meat of a camel’s hump, or plain old hedgehog’s genitals (Travel and Leisure).

An epidemic of poaching is sweeping over Africa, paid for by the rising number of rich Chinese and Asians, fueled by the growing energy production from coal. Caught in this frenzy of nasty rituals are endangered animals like the rhinoceros, which as a species may not be long for this world. Source: Save The Rhino

I don’t mean to imply that cultural differences reflected in unusual customs are necessarily primitive or horrible but…uh, actually I do mean that. Traditions concerning ingesting rare things like powdered rhinoceros horn or the eggs of endangered sea turtlesare primitive and horrible.

Many of us thought that the rise of Viagra would reduce the poaching of many of these animals. But we were wrong in our assumption that most of these body parts are used as aphrodisiacs. They’re used as medicinal cures for a host of ailments, real or imagined.

But Rhino horn is made of keratin, meaning it’s just as effective as grinding up your own fingernails and eating them. (Note to self – might be a good business strategy for when rhinos are gone)

Studies have shown that all of these medical claims for all of these rare body parts are false and useless. But this has not stopped TCM from getting its own “scientific” journal, the Chinese Medicine Journal. This new journal is published by BioMed Central which is owned by Springer Verlag, a science publishing giant who has decided that embracing a new huge audience is more important than rigorous scientific integrity or the preservation of endangered species.

To the millions of people who practice Traditional Chinese Medicine, rhinoceros horn is a medical necessity, they believe it works and are willing to fund the poachers as effectively as any drug cartel. The dwindling number of rhinos only increases the price and ensures their extinction.

An even more tragic example is death by association. The extinction of the Vaquita marina, the world’s smallest porpoise and Mexico’s only native marine mammal, is imminent. But not because anything about them is poachable (Tri-City Herald). These creatures get caught in Mexico’s northern Sea of Cortez during the illegal gillnet fishing for totoaba, a huge fish whose swim bladder is highly valued by Chinese chefs, and is itself protected.

One totoaba bladder brings more than $10,000 in Asia. So it’s no wonder that the poachers simply kill the porpoises and leave them to rot. Since there are only 100 individual Vaquita left, they will be gone forever in just three or four years. You’d think the Chinese government would outlaw this cuisine just as a matter of principle, but no one ever accused the Chinese of being nature-lovers.

We all know that the wealthy are more likely to be selfish (The Guardian), but this type of narcissism is beyond the normal pale of destructive human behavior. I understand clearing old growth forests to plant crops – it’s counter-productive and wrong, but I understand it if people’s livelihoods are at stake – but to extinct noble beasts because you’re worried about erectile dysfunction or a cough is beyond belief and should be punishable by having to rot in prison or becoming premature organ donors themselves. This planet doesn’t need stupid selfish humans to strain an already stressed-out Earth.

But poaching doesn’t just kill beautiful animals that will never return to this world, it threatens the lives and communities of people who live near them (Nature Conservancy). Poaching creates corruption and crime. It drives away tourism whose renewable income far exceeds the one-time pay-off from killing an animal.

Why is this suddenly an issue with China? Because they only recently developed sufficient energy production to power the magnitude of wealth necessary to devastate whole species on a lark.

Middle class wealth directly evolves from energy development, which directly comes from infrastructure investment. It takes between 3,000 and 6,000 kWhrs per person per year to have what we consider a good life, to get into the middle class (United Nations Human Development Index).

The United Nations Human Development Index shows the direct and strong relationship between access to energy (equivalent to electricity in kWhrs/year/person) and quality of life. It requires at least 3,000 kWhrs per person per year to have what we consider a good life (HDI > 0.9), and about 6,000 kWhrs per person per year to be fully in the middle class. Note that China is a combination of 500 million people who have only recently entered the middle and upper class and 800 million people still in abject poverty. But that is going to change fast. Source: United Nations Development Program

It doesn’t matter whether you were a the 17th century nobleman getting the equivalent of 3,000 kWhrs/year off of backs of ten slaves, five indentured servants, four cows and three horses (a great calculation for the student) or you are the reader of this post, getting about 10,000 kWhrs/year off the backs of coal and gas with a little hydro, nuclear and renewables. It just takes sufficient energy to have food, shelter, health care and not spend six hours a day carrying water back to your hut.

Prior to the development of our modern energy resources, and the infrastructure to use them, there was no middle class. The aristocracy and wealthy merchants got that energy by exploiting animals and other humans. Then came 1850 and coal. It took about 20 years for Britain to set up the infrastructure, but by 1870, there were 10 million middle-class Brits. And they did not have to own anyone to get there.

It took the United States over 80 years starting in 1890 to grow the 200 million middle class Americans that made us the greatest nation on Earth. But beginning in 1992 with a plan to build 600 coal-fired fired power plants, China took only 20 years to grow 500 million middle class Chinese. This rate of energy and wealth development is staggering, and is why the global financial structure is beginning to shift East.

China’s present energy expansion will be even bigger, and is meant to bring the 800 million Chinese remaining in abject poverty up into the middle class. Barring some bizarre event, which is possible in any authoritarian government, this will happen before mid-century. At that point, China’s GDP will pass ours, their conventional military will be enormous, their dominance of Asia and the Pacific will be uncontested, and they will be everyone’s biggest worry.

But it is the collateral development of the rich that fuels the type of environmental harm that destroys whole species. China has 170 billionaires and over a million millionaires, still lower than the United States and Japan, but that will change over the next generation (USA Today). And it’s these people that think nothing of paying for a meal that has a $10,000 swim bladder in it. This is a vicious circle because the very wealthy are the very people who can stop this destruction and death. But they are the very ones that are making it worse.

It doesn’t appear that international awareness and pressure is doing much. It really will take a cultural change on the part of the Chinese people. I hope it happens before we lose all these wonderful animals.

Follow Jim on https://twitter.com/JimConca and see his and Dr. Wright’s book at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1419675885/sr=1-10/qid=1195953013/

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Bad research and fact checking for this piece. The author conveniently (or ignorantly) omits the fact that rhino horn was eliminated from the official traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) pharmacopeia more than 20 years ago. No practitioners trained in the proper use of Chinese herbs still advocate the use of rhino horn or believe that it possesses significant medicinal properties. Its use, unfortunately, persists due to outdated and incorrect beliefs still held by some lay persons. But blaming the contemporary practice of TCM is just bad reporting and fact checking.

Not at all. It might have officially been banned but its practice is still widespread, it’s why rhino poaching has increased dramatically, no other reason. One issue is that other Asian cultures like Vietnamese have taken it on in a big way.

This article is a bit of a departure from the type of things you usually post, but I think it is an important thing to look at and I think you have done a very good job overall at bringing it all together.

Okie Dokie Smokie. Something that has been bothering me for awhile is that I’ve noticed that the Monarch butterflies have all but disappeared. I remember a time when they were EVERYWHERE!!! When we were kids, we would dip our finger in some honey and stand in the backyard with our finger up—-and in a few minutes you’d have them landing on you by the hundreds to lick the honey. Take a look at my fb page about a possible explanation for what might be happening to the Monarchs. I’d like to hear more discussion about this—-I like Monarchs and butterflies in general.

Good topic. Like the bees, it seems to be mostly overuse of pesticides and habitat loss. Habitat loss also includes food source loss. We plant Milkweed which is a major food source and attractant for them, but they are wild flowers that are on the downturn like many.

Correct again, Mr. Conca. I have a Korean brother-in-law. I questioned him about no scientific backing for what exotic animal parts do for health or vitality. He is a Cal Berkeley Ph. D. (living in Korea). His response, “The Chinese have been using this substance for 2,000 years.” He was implying that proved it valuable. End of discussion. How does one fight that whereby science suddenly does not matter?

Again, greed is a big driver of this killing of endangered animals. Greed and money making is embedded in the Capitalist belief system and that system rules at this time.